We heard today that Nicki Minaj would be joining Mariah Carey as the latest judge on American Idol and, aside from foreseeing a massive reality TV ratings showdown between all of these Top 40 princesses (Mars Curiosity Rover BFFBritney Spears has signed onto The X-Factor and Christina Aguilera renewed her contract on The Voice),our thoughts turned to what would happen if we were in charge of booking the judges (seeing as we did such a bang-up job casting the next season of Dancing With the Stars).

Herewith, we put our medicore Photoshop skills to use on some old American Idol stills (we can dream Paula and Simon are still involved) and came up with our shortlist for the next next judge of AI...you know, in case Lil Wayne tells Nicki to drop out or something...

1. Salt-N-PepaThe 80s/90s throwback judge's chair has been getting cold since Paula Abdul vacated it and, admit it, the "Push It" gals would be so much fun! (And, yes, the duo would have to share the one chair, and, yes, Mr. Mickey could fill in for Salt or Pep when necessary...)

3. KreayshawnWe're kind of having a hard time justifying this one other than that she'd bring in the "white chicks who rap" demographic -- a criminally-ignored TV viewing audience, as far as we're concerned.

4. The Scissor Sisters' Jake ShearsIf we're being honest, half the reason we'd want Shears on AI is so that Scissor Sisters could perform "Let's Have a Kiki" in front of millions of TV viewers. And the show could stand to produce a dance star or two.

5. Courtney LoveNow that Simon and Paula are long gone, we think Courtney Love could offer American Idol a two-in-one deal: she'd tell it like it is better than Simon and be more unpredictable than Paula. Woe is the contestant who does a Foo Fighters cover.

7. Beth DittoWe're hoping that after DWTS, she'll get hooked on reality TV and bring her fabulous outfits and fabulous-er persona to the judge's chair. We could see her becoming a nurturing, "den mother" type to all of the contestants and taking everyone for lunch at Subway.

9. Mykki BlancoSince it takes a good voice to be a singer but a good persona to be a star, we'd put money behind Mykki to teach all the pop divas-in-training how to werk it in a bra, heels and an octopus plopped on their head.

10. And, finally, LohanthonyNo one -- and we mean no one -- will offer sassier barbs than Lohanthony. Basic bitches don't have a prayer.